Organic Conchiglie Pasta with Chunky Sauce

I loved the conchiglie (seashell) pasta that I made a few weeks ago - the pasta holds heavy sauces well. Today, I cut Field Roast Grain Meat Company's Apple Sage artisinal vegan sausage into little pieces and sauteed them, along with some bell pepper and onion. In the meantime, I began a sauce with simmering some chunky canned tomato, a little diced hot red pepper, and coarsely chopped basil and oregano leaves from my garden. (I should also have added garlic to add a little more punch.) Once the "sausage" and vegetables were browned, I added them to the sauce and simmered for a few more minutes.

I served the very thick sauce atop the pasta, with some vegan Parma! "Parmesan cheese" sprinkled in. Today when I was shopping, I was lucky to spot a bottle of Sweetwater Growers' infused roasted garlic rosemary oil as a sample, and was given it to try for free! I put some of the oil on a chunk of toasted nine-grain bread, and was it good!

We really liked the pasta, though not quite as much as when I prepared it alla Bolognese a few weeks ago. If I had made the sauce just a little stronger, with garlic or more onion, it could have more closely rivaled the earlier dish. But we had no complaints! This conchiglie pasta is a winner.